The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2) by Philip Pullman Page A

but it wasn’t a requirement that the Master should be unmarried. A pleasant wife, a young family, would have added a lot to the liveliness of the place, and Dr. Hammond was presentable enough, still young enough to have those desirable additions to his household; but he avoided answering Lyra’s questions with great skill and gave not the slightest hint that he thought them intrusive.
    Then came dessert, and the purpose of the evening became clear.
    “Lyra, I’ve been meaning to ask you about your position here at Jordan College,” the Master began.
    And she felt the faintest little sensation, like a tremor in the ground.
    “It’s a very unusual one,” he went on gently.
    “Yes,” she said, “I’m very lucky. My father sort of put me here, and they just…well, put up with me.”
    “You’re how old now? Twenty-one?”
    “Twenty.”
    “Your father, Lord Asriel,” he said.
    “That’s right. He was a Scholar of the college. Dr. Carne, the old Master, was sort of my guardian, I suppose.”
    “In a way,” he said, “though it doesn’t seem to have ever been made into a legally valid arrangement.”
    That surprised her. Why would he have wanted to find that out? “Does that matter,” she said cautiously, “now that he’s dead?”
    “No. But it might have a bearing on the way things move in the future.”
    “I’m not sure I understand.”
    “Do you know the origin of the money you’re living on?”
    Another little earth tremor.
    “I knew there was some money that my father left,” she said. “I don’t know how much, or where it’s been looked after. Those were things I never questioned. I suppose I must have thought that things were…all right. I mean, that…I suppose I thought that…Dr. Hammond, may I ask why we’re talking about this?”
    “Because the college, and I as the Master, are, as it were, in loco parentis towards you. In an informal way, because you’ve never actually been in statu pupillari. It’s my duty to keep an eye on your affairs until you come of age. There was a sum of money put by for your benefit, to pay for your living expenses and accommodation and so on. But it wasn’t put there by your father. It was Dr. Carne’s money.”
    “Was it?” Lyra was feeling almost stupid, as if this was something she should have known about all her life, and it was negligent of her not to.
    “So he never told you?” the Master said.
    “Not a word. He told me I would be looked after, and there was no need to worry. So I didn’t. In a way, I thought the whole college was…sort of looking after me. I felt I belonged here. I was very young. You don’t question things….And it was his money all the time? Not my father’s?”
    “I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your father was living as an independent scholar, in a rather hand-to-mouth way. He vanished when you were—what, thirteen years old?”
    “Twelve,” said Lyra. Her throat had tightened.
    “Twelve. That would have been the point when Dr. Carne decided to put a sum of money aside for your benefit. He wasn’t a rich man, but there was enough. It was looked after by the college’s solicitors, who invested it prudently, paid over a regular sum to the college for your rent and living expenses, and so on. But, Lyra, I have to tell you that the interest on the capital sum was never quite adequate. It appears that Dr. Carne continued to subsidize it from his income, and the money he originally placed with the solicitor for your benefit is now exhausted.”
    She put down her spoon. The crème caramel suddenly seemed inedible. “What…I’m sorry, but this is a shock,” she said.
    “Of course. I understand.”
    Pan had come up onto her lap. She moved her fingers through his fur. “So this means…I have to leave?” she said.
    “You’re in your second year of study?”
    “Yes.”
    “One more year to go after this one. It’s a pity that none of this was made clear to you before, Lyra, so